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ANC Provincial Leader Ebrahim Rasool today made contact with Premier Gerald Morkel conceding victory to the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Unicity (as the enlarged Cape Town constituency now is called) and congratulating him on the DA's performance. Popular DA candidate Peter Marais will be become the next Cape Town Mayor. - Despite the Unicity MEO, Andrew Boraine, not having confirmed the final results it is clear from our own information that the DA has managed to secure over 50% support, Rasool said. "This gives them the numbers to elect the mayor and run the Unicity. Control over many of the rural municipalities is still not certain given the balance held by independents and smaller parties in certain councils." Rasool further informed that he had contacted Premier Morkel this morning to congratulate him on the DA's performance. "We are committed to using our seats in all councils to work with all parties to ensure that change is speeded up and reaches the most marginalised and poor communities," he said. According to an electoral analysis from the ANC Western Cape it was clear that the party's performance was not good enough to match the way the DA mobilised its key support base in the white community to vote in large numbers. "Even though the turnout of our African support base was consistent with the national trend (50%), it was not good enough on the day to match the massive turnout in the white community (70%). Both the DA and ANC should be concerned at the relatively low turnout in the coloured community (45%) in the hope that this level of apathy can be turned around in the short term," the ANC concluded. One issue which clearly impacted was the image and performance of some of the ANC's former councillors. "We need to learn from those factors which led to an ANC victory in the coloured communities of Macassar and Thornhill and a very strong showing in Atlantis in comparison to our performance in the Southern Suburbs," Rasool stated. Rasool also asked the rhetoric question if it just was "the DA's scare campaign alone which had such a huge impact on white voters or does it say something about our campaign in historically white communities?" - The collective executive model will ensure ANC participation on every council in the Western Cape. We are determined to work tirelessly against poverty and racism in every corner of the province where it exists, he assured. "Our election manifesto called for a certain amount of free basic services for all in ANC-run councils. This was quickly adopted by the DA. Our task will be to ensure that the mechanisms to provide this are put in place in all ANC towns and to ensure that the DA's identical promise on services is implemented," Rasool analysed the situation. Rasool also payd tribute to all ANC candidates and canvassers for the effort they had put in. "In particular Lynne Brown deserves special mention," he said. "She ran a very focussed campaign and her dignity, integrity, attention to detail and commitment was clear for all to see. The ANC will consider her role in terms of the priorities of the organization in our province." Making a note on ANC functions in opposition, Rasool stated that "whether we are running council's or in opposition, we are determined to change the quality of our people's lives. This we will do in partnership with communities and other political parties. Central to our agenda will be the fight against racism and poverty and for non-racial unity in our province. This province cannot afford the current race and class polarisation if Cape Town is truly going to become a World Class African city attracting both investors and tourists," he concluded on the victory of the DA party, attracting most of its votes from the "white" community.
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